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AROSEA/ENA 

NOTES  EXCHANGED  BETWEEN 
MR.  AROSEMENA,  MINISTER 
OF  PANAMA  AT  WASHINGTON, 
AND  MR.   BACON,  SECRETARY 
OF  STATE 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


NOTES  EXCHANGED 


BBTWJ5EN 


MR.  AROSEMENA,   MINISTER   OF   PANAMA 
AT  WASHINGTON, 


AND 


MR.  BACON,  SECRETARY  OF  STATE, 


Concerning  the  Addresses  of  Mr.  Rainey,   of  Illinois, 
Delivered  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 


Correspondence  between  Mr.  Arosemena,  Min- 
ister of  Panama  at  Washington  and  Mr.  Bacon, 
Secretary  of  State,  concerning  the  address  of  Mr. 
Rainey  of  Illinois,  delivered  in  the  House  of 
Representatives. 


LEGATION  OF  THE  REPUBLIC  OF  PANAMA. 

WASHINGTON. 


FEBRUARY  8,  1909. 
EXCELLENCY  : 

Under  instructions  from  His  Excellency  the  Secretary  of 
Foreign  Affairs  of  my  Government,  and  pursuant  to  Resolu- 
tions unanimously  adopted  by  the  National  Assembly  of  the 
Republic  of  Panama  on  the  first  instant,  I  am  directed  to  call 
the  attention  of  your  Excellency's  Government  to  two  public 
addresses  delivered  in  the  House  of  Representatives  of  your 
National  Congress,  by  one  of  its  members,  on  the  26th  and 
28th  days  of  January  last,  which  addresses  constitute  a  direct 
attack  upon  the  President  of  my  Country,  as  well  as  upon  the 
fair  name  and  Administration  of  the  Republic  of  Panama,  and 
to  convey  to  Your  Excellency  the  solemn  and  emphatic  protest 
of  my  Government  against  said  attacks  and  this  violation  of 
international  courtesy. 

My  Government  and  its  people  justly  and  naturally  resent 
the  baseless  and  unwarranted  attacks  upon  their  President 
contained  in  these  public  and  official  speeches  of  a  member  of 
your  Government  delivered  in  the  National  Congress  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  say  to 


Your  Excellency  that  through  years  of  intimacy  and  associa- 
tion my  countrymen  have  the  most  implicit  faith  in  the  per- 
sonal integrity,  official  uprightness  and  disinterested  patriotism 
of  their  present  honored  President. 

My  Government  and  its  people  also  feel  that  they  have 
additional  cause  for  exception  by  reason  of  the  publication  of 
the  speeches  referred  to  in  the  official  organ  of  Your  Excel- 
lency's Government,  the  Congressional  Record,  by  which,  in 
addition  to  their  appearance  in  the  public  press,  official  circu- 
lation has  been  given  to  these  wholly  baseless  and  highly 
offensive  statements  and  they  have  been  communicated  to  the 
nations  of  the  world  with  apparently  official  sanction,  to  the 
great  humiliation  of  my  Government  and  its  people. 

It  is  with  surprise  that  my  Government  also  notes  that 
measures  solely  concerning  the  Republic  of  Panama  and  pend- 
ing before  its  legislative  body  were  at  the  same  time  made  the 
subject  of  official  discussion  and  opprobrious  criticism  in  a 
legislative  body  of  Your  Excellency's  Government,  and  this  too, 
with  the  declared  purpose  of  inducing  action  by  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  United  States,  designed  to  influence  the 
action  of  the  National  Assembly  of  my  Country.  My  Govern- 
ment further  deplores  the  adverse  comments  contained  in  said 
official  addresses  of  said  member  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives upon  the  treaties  pending  between  the  United  States, 
Panama  and  Columbia,  which  were  concluded  on  January  9th 
last,  and  which  criticisms  tend  to  affect  their  ultimate  ratifica- 
tion. 

The  Republic  of  Panama  is  bound  to  that  of  Your  Excel- 
lency, not  only  by  ties  of  fraternity  and  by  fervid  admiration 
for  its  institutions,  but  also  by  the  inseparable  bond  of  a  com- 
mon interest  in  the  Panama  Canal  located  within  its  boun- 
daries, and  it  is  a  source  of  profound  regret  to  my  Government 
and  myself  that  occasion  has  arisen  for  calling  attention  to  the 
occurrences  to  which  1  have  referred ;  but  their  character  is  so 
extraordinary  that  even  the  warm  devotion  of  my  Country  to 
that  of  Your  Excellency  does  not  permit  my  Government  to 
disregard  them. 

Your  Excellency  will  note  that  I  am  instructed  to  include 
in  the  protest  the  Counsel  of  this  Legation  and  Fiscal  Com- 
missioner of  Panama  in  this  Country.  I  have  not  referred  to 
him  in  the  foregoing  protest,  solely  in  deference  to  his  request 


that  I  refrain  from  so  doing,  since  he,  as  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  does  not  desire  that  any  foreign  Government 
should  intervene  in  his  behalf.  I  should,  however,  fail  in  my 
duty  if  I  did  not  express  the  perfect  confidence  of  my  Govern- 
ment and  people  in  his  personal  integrity  and  official  upright- 
ness, and  in  the  name  of  uiy  Government  absolutely  deny  the 
truth  of  any  of  the  injurious  statements  in  the  addresses  to 
which  I  have  referred,  concerning  his  relations  or  transactions 
with  my  Government  or  any  member  of  it. 

In  conclusion,  I  beg  to  submit  to  Your  Excellency,  with 
this  letter  of  protest,  extract  of  a  cablegram  of  instructions 
from  His  Excellency  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  of  my 
Government  and  the  text  of  the  Resolution  before  mentioned 
as  adopted  by  the  National  Assembly  of  the  Republic  of 
Panama  on  the  first  instant,  and  copies  of  the  Congressional 
Record  containing  the  speeches  and  remarks  to  which  I 
have  referred,  and  finally  I  have  the  honor  to  request  of  Your 
Excellency's  Government  such  disavowal  of  the  offensive 
remarks,  concerning  the  President  and  the  Republic  of 
Panama,  as  may  be  deemed  just  and  commensurate  with  the 
deep  and  unwarranted  injury  inflicted  on  His  Excellency 
Sr.  Jose  Domingo  de  Obaldia,  President  of  the  Republic  of 
Panama. 

I  improve  this  opportunity  to  reiterate  to  Your  Excellency 
the  assurances  of  my  high  and  distinguished  consideration. 

C.  0.  AKOSEMENA, 

Minister  of  Panama. 


(Cables  enclosures.) 

PANAMA,  February  1,  1909. 

PANAMA  CONSUL, 

New  York  : 

Inform  Minister  Arosemena  that  upon  his  return  lie  is  to 
emphatically  protest  against  Congressman  Rainey's  disrespect- 
ful official  speech  against  the  President  of  the  Republic  and 
Counsellor  of  the  Legation. 

ARANGO, 
Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs. 

PANAMA,  Feb.  1,  1909. 

Panama  Consul,  New  York, 
18  Broadway. 

Proposition  approved  today  proposed  by  Diputado  Morales, 
modified  by  Diputado  Pablo  Arosemena.  Before  proceeding 
with  the  order  of  the  day  the  National  Assembly  considers  the 
following :  Having  seen  the  dispatch  of  the  Consul  General  of 
the  Republic  in  New  York  addressed  to  His  Excellency  the 
President,  in  which  he  states  the  caluminous  remarks  made 
by  Representative  Rainey  in  the  Chamber  of  Representatives 
of  the  United  States  of  America  against  His  Excellency,  Senor 
Don  Jose  Domingo  de  Obaldia,  President  of  the  Republic, 
statements  that  should  only  be  considered  for  the  official 
character  of  the  person  who  made  them  and  the  place 
and  occasion  in  which  they  were  made  but  that  in  them- 
selves are  nothing  but  an  insult  to  the  canons  of  history 
and  a  violation  of  international  rights  and  courtesies,  resolves 
to  protest,  as  in  fact  it  protests,  publicly  and  solemnly  against 
the  offence  committed  in  the  Parliament  of  a  friendly  country 
to  the  present  head  of  the  Panamanian  Nation,  His  Excellency 
Senor  Don  Jose  Domingo  de  Obaldia.  Transmit  this  resolu- 
tion by  cable  to  the  Minister  of  the  Republic  in  Washington 
so  that  he  may  lay  it  before  the  American  Government  and 
that  he  may  give  it  the  greatest  publicity. 

(Signed)     ANTONIO  BURGOS, 

President  of  Assembly. 


DEPARTMENT  OF   STATE, 

WASHINGTON. 

Serial  No.  FEBRUARY  9,  1909. 

SIR  : 

The  President  directs  me  to  say  in  answer  to  your  com- 
munication of  February  9,  1909,  that  the  remarks  complained 
of  were  made  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  Under  our 
Constitution  we  have  for  what  we  regard  as  wise  reasons  pro- 
vided that — 

*  *  *  "  for  any  speech  or  debate  in  either  House 
"  they  (the  Senators  and  Representatives)  shall  not  be 
"  questioned  in  any  other  place." 

This  provision  we  regard  as  essential  to  secure  full  liberty 
of  speech  to  the  elected  representatives  of  the  people ;  and  wo 
feel  that  such  liberty  of  speech  should  be  preserved  even 
though  it  may  occasionally  be  abused. 

It  ought  to  be  understood,  however,  that  the  utterances  of 
individual  members  are  not  to  be  taken  as  expressing  the  views 
either  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  or  of  the  House 
in  which  such  remarks  are  made.  As  regards  the  statements 
in  question  made  by  Representative  Rainey,  the  President 
attached  so  little  importance  to  them  that  he  had  not  even 
read  them  until  your  protest  came  ;  he  has  now  read  them,  and 
none  of  them  concerning  which  he  has  knowledge  have  any 
foundation  in  fact.  The  President  wishes  me  to  recall  to  your 
attention  that  the  attack  was  made  even  more  upon  Americans, 
including  the  President-elect,  than  upon  the  officials  of 
Panamn.  The  President  need  hardly  say  that  this  Govern- 
ment disavows  all  responsibility  for  the  remarks  of  Represent- 
ative Rainey  to  which  you  refer. 

Accept,  Sir,  the  renewed  assurance  of  my  high  consider- 
ation. 

(Signed)  ROBERT  BACON. 

j  To  DON  CARLOS  C.  AROSEMENA, 

Minister   Plenipotentiary  and  Envoy  Extraordinary  of 
the  Republic  of  Panama.] 

[1553] 


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